One of the gotchas of using MP3 players is the need to get your music into the player, via interfaces that can be clumsy or confusing. What if you could order new tracks and even share your music with others (legally, of course) without going near a PC? That's the aim of MusicGremlin, which has developed device-based software technology that connects MP3 players to its own music store and to other enabled devices via Wi-Fi.

MusicGremlin's service will let customers choose a monthly subscription (similar to RealRhapsody and Napster To Go), where you can play your tracks as long as you have a subscription, or let them purchase tracks to keep, as you would at the iTunes Music Store. Pricing and music quality will be, according to company representatives, competitive with the aforementioned services. MusicGremlin has yet to make any hardware-partner announcements, but look for devices to ship with its built-in technology by the end of this year.

Check out our slideshow to see what the MusicGremlin interface may look like, depending on how it's implemented by its partners.

Carol Mangis manages the PC Magazine Digital Edition and PCMag on Medium. Her very first job in tech journalism was at PC Magazine (does anyone remember "After Hours"?), and she has also worked at Consumer Reports as an electronics editor.
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